Plateosaurus
Plateosaurus was a large prosauropod dating back to the late Triassic in Europe. Information Important cranial characteristics (such as jaw articulation) of most "prosauropods" are closer to those of herbivorous reptiles than those of carnivorous ones, and the shape of the tooth crown is similar to that of modern herbivorous or omnivorous iguanas. The maximum width of the crown was greater than that of the root for the teeth of most "prosauropods", including Plateosaurus; this results in a cutting edge similar to those of extant herbivorous or omnivorous reptiles. Paul Barrett proposed that prosauropods supplemented their mostly herbivorous diets with small prey or carrion, thus making them omnivores. So far, no fossil of Plateosaurus has been found with gastroliths (gizzard stones) in the stomach area. The old, widely cited idea that all large dinosaurs, implicitly also Plateosaurus, swallowed gastroliths to digest food because of their relatively limited ability to deal with food orally has been refuted by a study on gastrolith abundance, weight, and surface structure in fossils compared to alligators and ostriches by Oliver Wings. The use of gastroliths for digestion seems to have developed on the line from basal theropods to birds, with a parallel development in Psittacosaurus. Comparisons between the scleral rings and estimated orbit size of Plateosaurus and modern birds and reptiles suggest that it may have been cathemeral, active throughout the day and night, possibly avoiding the midday heat. Practically every imaginable posture has been suggested for Plateosaurus in the scientific literature at some point. Von Huene assumed digitigrade bipedality with erect hind limbs for the animals he excavated at Trossingen, with the backbone held at a steep angle (at least during rapid locomotion). In contrast, Jaekel, the main investigator of the Halberstadt material, initially concluded that the animals walked quadrupedally, like lizards, with a sprawling limb position, plantigrade feet, and laterally undulating the body. Only a year later, Jaekel instead favoured a clumsy, kangaroo-like hopping, a change of heart for which he was mocked by German zoologist Gustav Tornier, who interpreted the shape of the articulation surfaces in the hip and shoulder as typically reptilian. Fraas, the first excavator of the Trossingen lagerstätte, also favoured a reptilian posture. Müller-Stoll listed a number of characters required for an erect limb posture that Plateosaurus supposedly lacked, concluding that the lizard-like reconstructions were correct. However, most of these adaptations are actually present in Plateosaurus. From 1980 on, a better understanding of dinosaur biomechanics, and studies by palaeontologists Andreas Christian and Holger Preuschoft on the resistance to bending of the back of Plateosaurus, led to widespread acceptance of an erect, digitigrade limb posture and a roughly horizontal position of the back. Many researchers were of the opinion that Plateosaurus could use both quadrupedal gaits (for slow speeds) and bipedal gaits (for rapid locomotion), and Wellnhofer insisted that the tail curved strongly downward, making a bipedal posture impossible. However, Moser showed that the tail was in fact straight. Photograph of a mounted cast in left lateral view, with tail dragging on the ground. The bipedal-quadrupedal consensus was changed by a detailed study of the forelimbs of Plateosaurus by Bonnan and Senter (2007), which clearly showed that Plateosaurus was incapable of pronating its hands. The pronated position in some museum mounts had been achieved by exchanging the position of radius and ulna in the elbow. The lack of forelimb pronation meant that Plateosaurus was an obligate (i.e. unable to walk in any other way) biped. Further indicators for a purely bipedal mode of locomotion are the great difference in limb length (the hind limb is roughly twice as long as the forelimb), the very limited motion range of the forelimb, and the fact that the centre of mass rests squarely over the hind limbs. Plateosaurus shows a number of cursorial adaptations, including an erect hind limb posture, a relatively long lower leg, an elongated metatarsus and a digitigrade foot posture. However, in contrast to mammalian cursors, the moment arms of the limb extending muscles are short, especially in the ankle, where a distinct, moment arm-increasing tuber on the calcaneum is missing. This means that in contrast to running mammals, Plateosaurus probably did not use gaits with aerial, unsupported phases. Instead, Plateosaurus must have increased speed by using higher stride frequencies, created by rapid and powerful limb retraction. Reliance on limb retraction instead of extension is typical for non-avian dinosaurs. In-Game Plateosaurus will be in the early access of Prehistoric Kingdom. Gallery Plateosaurus_skins.jpg|All the skins for Plateosaurus Plateosaurus_01_Preview.png|Sandstone Plateosaurus_02_Preview.png|Stratified Plateosaurus_03_Preview.png|Black Ripple Category:Dinosaurs Category:Sauropods Category:Herbivore